Woman charged with using slain man's credit card heads to county court

Tuesday

Apr 14, 2009 at 12:01 AM

Venus Linan, 28, of Scranton, will head to Monroe County Court on charges of using a murder victim's credit card just hours after the man was found dead.

STROUDSBURG — Venus Linan, 28, of Scranton, will head to Monroe County Court on charges of using a murder victim's credit card just hours after the man was found dead.

Linan waived her right to a preliminary hearing Monday before Stroudsburg Magisterial District Judge Kristina Anzini and will head to county court, where she can go to trial or plead guilty/no contest.

Linan was denied a bail reduction request and as of Monday was still in Monroe County Correctional Facility in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Blake Natal, 22, of Tobyhanna, was found dead in the Quality Inn parking lot on West Main Street in Stroudsburg on the night of Jan. 15.

Myles White, 21, of Smithfield Township, and Linan's boyfriend, Ralph Maldonado, 33, of Scranton, are charged in the murder and robbery of Natal.

Maldonado is awaiting trial in county court while White is awaiting a preliminary hearing in district court. Both are being held in county jail without bail.

Several hours after his death, Natal's mother contacted police and said the bank had informed her of activity on her son's credit card.

Police traced that activity to two stores near Scranton and eventually to Linan and Maldonado's mother, Sonia Maldonado, 50, of Scranton.

Sonia Maldonado is in county jail on $250,000 bail and is awaiting trial in county court. ­— Andrew Scott

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